Beers, especially “craft beer” or “micro brews” are common today, and many are known for their exceptional flavor, wide variety, and constant ingenuity. Attempts have been made to distill these delicate products in the past using conventional distillation techniques. The results have been products that either contained material too degraded to be deemed palatable or found to be lacking the key components that made it recognizable as originating from beer. The beer-based products that make their way to market are largely indistinguishable from the products that are not made from beer.
In an attempt to resolve this shortcoming, some products are specifically modified to be marketed as “distilled from beer.” However, these marketed products, by design and process, are lacking the components of finished beers. The currently known distillation processes, utilized in the industry for these beers, typically remove the problem ingredients, such as hops (or hops components). However, without these ingredients, the finished distilled product lacks the quality and distinct flavor of the beer, for which it is marketed. In some cases, a distilled product (with the removed hop) is “flavored” after the distillation. This, however, modifies the original flavor profile, and makes the resulting product very different in flavor components from the beer, from which it claims to originate.
Moreover, by introducing the post-distillation “flavoring,” the final products lose the distinction of being purely “distilled” products, such as whiskey or gin, and would instead have to take on the lower classification of a “flavored” spirit.
Another problem with currently known distillation methods is that the beer production also produces large quantities of waste products. One common waste product is in a form of a post-fermentation slurry that may contain hop matter, adjuncts, yeast and other by-products. The breweries dispose of the waste products according to the local laws and are unable to re-use them.
As with finished beer, these wastes are highly sensitive to the thermal degradation, oxidative damage. Moreover, the inclusion of living biological material (yeast and other organisms used in the brewing process) makes their recovery even more complicated. Microorganisms begin to autolyse (die) at the temperature around 120° F. or 48.8° C., but they also begin to introduce chemicals (at the temperature as little as 94° F. or 34.4° C.) that greatly contribute to off-flavors that contaminate any recovered material. Thus, there is a need for a system and a distillation method that would allow an efficient recovery of these living biological materials and capturing of the essential flavor components and flavor profile of beer.
Some of the most valuable recovered products are the essential oils and terpenes present in the hop blossoms. These occur at a very small percentage of the total weight of the hop blossom, and they are highly valued for their flavor and olfactory properties in the hop bearing products. Recovering these products from the second use, post-fermentation product also has the added advantage of the “bio-transformation” process, observed as part of the beer production. Distilled products made from virgin ingredients are quite different from a post-fermentation based distillate due to this phenomenon. Thus, there is a need for an improved distillation process that would produce oils and terpenes of a flavor and quality that are closer to those found in the fermented beer, and superior to those that are produced through conventional known methods (pre-fermentation or raw hops extracted for oils). Examples of conventional methods are described at https://doi.org./10.1016/j.cervis.2011.12.005, which is incorporated herein by reference.
One of the problems of processing the delicate materials in the hop blossoms and other beer waste materials lies with the distillation methods that are employed, as well as the quality of the product being distilled. Conventional known distillation methods utilize high temperatures, which degrade or catalyze the beer's components with important flavor profile.
For example, the typical beverage distillation process occurs at 190-215° F. The known conventional distillation systems typically operate at atmospheric pressures, and suffer from the above-mentioned limitations that are caused by the high temperature distillation. The problems are further complicated by the presence of the solid, thermally sensitive components in the beer (e.g., residual yeast, hop solids), which the known and currently used distillation processes are not able to handle properly and/or typically do not preserve.
Another problem with the known distillation systems and methods is the preparation of the beer or residues prior to distillation. During fermentation, large quantities of non-condensable vapors, primarily Carbon Dioxide (CO2) are produced and remain present in the beer liquids and solids. CO2, being non-condensable, must be released from the distillation system, often with great care. CO2 can exhibit “stripping” abilities when it is removed from liquids in large quantities. To that end, it is utilized in many industries that target deodorizing products.
The “stripping” occurs when the CO2 physically carries volatile components with it, as it comes out (in gas form) of the liquid in which it is dissolved. Unfortunately, these volatile components represent some of the most delicate and key aromas and flavors unique to beers. The use of the temperatures utilized with the known conventional distillation systems only furthers this problem as it causes the rate of degassing to increase. This produces an undesired result of having a “deodorized” beer product, before any distillation has even started.
Thus, there is also a need for a system and process that would negate the thermal degradation, CO2 stripping effects, and a reaction potential. This is particularly important for beers that contain hops, organic acids, or living microbial organisms. Hop utilization in beer brewing has been of high interest to brewers, and the industry has compiled a list of best practices and procedures for their use.
One of the primary concerns among the best practices and procedures set forth by the industry is the negative effect of conventional distillation and pre-processing on the volatile non-bittering (aromatic) components of the hop blossoms. This aromatic quotient is made up of hop essential oils (terpene hydrocarbons) that consist mostly of myrcene, humulene and caryophyllene. These components are highly unstable and will react or polymerize may render them useless as flavors and scents. It is for this reason that hops are quickly processed immediately after the harvest, packaged with nitrogen only, and stored at near freezing temperatures. Thus, there is a need to obtain the correct aromatic and flavor profile of the above-mentioned compounds.
Furthermore, organic acids are found to some degree in all beers but at greater concentrations in “sour” beers. These beers have a distinctive acid note to them and are widely believed to be impractical or impossible to distill using the conventional known means. This belief stems from the fact that a chemical reaction occurs when the acids found in the beer react under heating, with the alcohols present in beer.
While this reaction will occur under relatively ambient temperatures, as well as at the high temperatures utilized in conventional distillation methods, the reaction at lower temperatures is very slow. Conventional or high temperature distillation creates a large amount of undesirable esters that must be removed and discarded prior to collection. However, while the esters are discarded, the aromatics of the same relative volatility are also discarded in the known, conventional methods. The reaction also has a degrading effect on the typically copper machines that are used for conventional distillation, which may result in the undesired damage to the distillation equipment. The low temperatures utilized in this invention (discussed below) prevent the formation of undesirable esters through the esterification of organic acids and alcohols preventing the need for their removal and preserving the native ester content of the initial beer product.
Microbiological organisms are the fundamental ingredients to the creation of beer. Because of this, traces of these organisms (usually yeasts) are found in beer unless they have been sterile filtered. In the case of beer residues and wastes, microbes may form a significant (to majority) portion of the whole product. While generally hardy, these biological creatures are destroyed fairly easily by temperatures in excess of 120° F., which are utilized in the known conventional distillation processes. At these high temperatures, the cell walls of the microbiological organism rupture or “lyse.”
The destruction and even the stress related to the lead-up to the cell-death of microorganisms releases a host of amino acids, nitrogen compounds, proteins, and mercaptans that react with the surround material. This creates volatile off-flavors in a distillate, which must be removed to make the product palatable. This “finishing” process may include barrel aging, filtering, fining, carbon adsorption, chemical reactions, or even the aforementioned CO2 gas stripping. The undesirable side effect of the “finishing” of a product in this manner by the known and conventional systems and method is the negative impact on the ultimate flavor and aroma of the distillate, removing many of the integral “beer” flavor components along with the offending flaws. Thus, there is a need for a system and method that not cause the destruction of the microorganisms and avoid the need to remove the undesired off-flavors produced by the lysing and the lead-up to the cell death of the microbial content. There also is a need for a system and method that prevents harm to the microbial content of the beer or beer waste even as it is being distilled.
The present invention addresses and resolves some or all of the above-mentioned limitations and shortcomings of known systems and methods.